A few weekends ago, BG and I headed out to Bridgehampton for a little getaway outside of the city. With the business school applications behind me, it was time to start living again on the weekends. I was looking forward mostly to getting in some solid wine drinking and eating. The weather forecast called for some snow flurries, but inclement weather wasn’t going to put a damper on my planned consumption.
We were taking off on Friday night straight from work, meaning that we wouldn’t get into town until about 9pm or so. For me, this meant only one thing– bar food at Bobby Van’s. Although my last trip to BV’s hadn’t been exactly inspiring, I had high hopes for the sliders, and I knew that after a 3-hour train ride, I would need some nourishment.
As expected, we got to Bridgehampton at about 9. After picking up the car, we headed over to Bobby Van’s. Even though it was the off-season, the place was bumpin’ with locals looking to cut the lack of excitement with a few drinks and some grub. After a short wait, we nestled up to the bar and ordered a couple of Brooklyn Winters. (Side note, I’ve really be hooked on the Brooklyn Brewery Winter Ale this season. It’s got a great depth and body to it without being overly heavy. A great seasonal brew from the local boys.) I didn’t need to see the menu– an order of mini Kobe burgers and a order of the lamb sliders with mint chimichurri. It was burger time.
After a brief wait, the six little gems arrived. They all arrived on nicely buttered brioche buns. You always know how unhealthy a bun is based on its reflective surface. I could practically see myself in these things.
Without going into too much detail, I’ve gotta say that the bar burgers are much better than their full-sized sibling. They were great. I found the Kobe ones better than the lamb, but this was probably because the mint chimichurri was fairly lacking in substance, and the lamb patties were a bit too mild for my taste– they lacked that gaminess that I look for in a good lamb burger. Either way, the meal was truly satisfying, and was a great way to kickoff the weekend.
Later that evening, the remaining guests arrived, and we proceeded to put back a few bottles of wine with ease. A good night’s sleep ensued.
The next day, we headed out to the bowling alley, where my rusty skills impressed no one. Then the ladies did a little shopping while the men put back a few brews at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton. But enough of this “outdoor” activity, let’s get back to some eating. The culmination was supposed to be a big Saturday night dinner. Although we were only six people, I envisioned a giant roast pig filled with sausages and other meat products, as featured in Fellini’s Satyricon. The copious amounts of food that we prepared were actually not too far off.
Owen made a toasted walnut and sun-dried tomato pesto, which was great– a combination of earthy walnuts combined with a little salty tang from the tomatoes and a touch of balsamic vinegar. He also made some cheesy onion bread, baked in the oven until melted and delicious– as he described, it was like “onion soup on toast.” BG thought it was a bit too salty from the cheese, but I could have eaten that stuff all night without any complaints. Perhaps I would have been bloated for a week, but well worth the pain.
The bread is on the left of the bowl of green, which in this photo looks like a giant bowl of guacamole, but was in fact a shredded brussels sprout salad, keeping in line with the whole bloating theme.
The main event was a big bowl of pasta that Owen also rocked, with a simple red tomato sauce, very similar to the Scarpetta sauce that is taking over the Upper West Side like a red-tomato plague.
So what did I do in this whole mess? I know, it’s not like me to just sit back and enjoy without getting my hands in on the action. I had only one contribution, but one that I took very seriously.
Meatballs.
I am by no means a meatball master. I have dabbled in the spherical balls of goodness, but I am hardly an expert of the subject. I usually like to cook them in red sauce, but because we had a vegetarian in the house, these guys had to be made separately from any sauce. No sauce? No worries. Let’s just crank up the fat content.
I went with an 85% lean ground beef (I wanted 80%, but BG persuaded me to be “healthy”), and matched that with an equal amount of ground pork. The secret ingredient was a good glob of bacon fat leftover from the morning’s bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches. Aside from that, the mixture was pretty standard: a good amount of parmesan cheese, parsley, some fresh baguette soaked in milk, and a good amount of salt and pepper.
Not wanting to take the chance of eating anything dry, I opted for a pan-frying and finishing the lot in the oven. About 45 minutes later, we had delicious, golden-brown balls of meat. None of us would have an iron deficiency after this meal, that was for sure. They were tender from the milk-soaked bread, with a great earthiness from the parmesan cheese and a little freshness from the parsley. Not too bad, I must say. A little close-up of the onion bread, salad, and meatballs is featured below.
All in all, a great weekend, with a return to NYC just in time to see the Saints win the Super Bowl. Even better.
